s discharge, till from his
labour and economy combined (both voluntary) he shall fully redeem his
debt. 4. On first arriving at a penal settlement, for a period not under
three months, but beyond that depending entirely on his own regularity
and proficiency, and the acquisition of marks exhibiting them, his
treatment should consist of moral, religious, and other intellectual
instruction in a penitentiary. 5. After this, he should for a time not
under eighteen months, but the period also depending on the acquisition
of marks, serve in a mutually responsible party, labouring for
government, and disqualified for any situation of trust, authority or
indulgence under it, or for any private service. 6. After this, he
should hold for not less than fifteen months (making three years in
all), and beyond this till he has fully redeemed his marks and earned
his entire discharge, a ticket-of-leave in the settlement. 7. In this
last stage every reasonable facility should be afforded him to
accumulate a little money against his return to society. For this
purpose small farms or gardens should be let to men holding this
indulgence, at moderate rents in kind:--any stock or edible produce they
may raise on these, beyond their rents, should be purchased from them at
fair prices into the public stores:--and a fixed proportion of them (3,
4, or 5 per cent, of the entire number of prisoners on the settlement)
should further be eligible, as selected by their superintendent, to fill
subordinate stations of trust in the general management, and receive
(say) 6_d._ per day as money salary, besides the marks attached to their
situations. (In my proposed regulations I suggest also another mode of
giving the men a little money to take with them on their return to
society--which is, perhaps, a little extravagant, and it would thus
admit, at least, of modification; but the point is very important.) 8.
On discharge the utmost possible facilities should be afforded the men
to disperse;--and their final liberation, as well as every intermediate
step towards it, should in every case depend solely on having served the
_minimum_ time, and accumulated the corresponding number of marks. No
discretion on either head should be vested in any local authority. The
whole arrangement should be, as it were, a matter of contract; and the
local authorities should have no other control over it, than to see its
conditions on both sides punctually fulfilled."--_Maconochie'